News on Possible Drug for Lupus—Benlysta™

The beneficial effects of the proposed lupus drug Benlysta™ (belimumab) are not only present after 52 weeks, but persist through at least 76 weeks, HGS and GlaxoSmithKline reported today.

It was last July and November that the companies reported that high doses of Benlysta were statistically significantly superior to placebo in benefiting people with systemic lupus in two major 52-week clinical trials—a major advance for a chronic and potentially fatal illness which has had no new drug approved in 50 years.